Charles Ortel

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Hillary Clinton takes ample credit for the good work and noble aims of the charity that now includes her name; however, she and her fellow Directors need to dig in and finally make consistent and comprehensive disclosures about all of the activities and potential conflicts arising out of Clinton family not-for-profit and profit-seeking operations.

Sixteen months ago, Nicholas Confessore and Amy Chozick wrote in The New York Times about the loose governance and financial performance of the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. For example, after more than 10 years in operation, the Foundation had internal controls that were only just coming into play while financial disclosures seemed sloppy and even misleading.

Even as she deals with her State Department email scandal, there’s another problem set to dog Hillary Clinton. It involves an organization called Teneo Holdings, formed in 2011 by Doug Band and Declan Kelly, and Teneo
s relationship with the Clinton Foundation.

A veritable firestorm has erupted over how Hillary Clinton trusted confidante Huma Abedin and other close aides to interact electronically on government business in risk-prone ways that, until now, were insulated from proper scrutiny, between January 21, 2009 and February 1, 2013, while Mrs. Clinton served as Secretary of State.

Like a bad moon rising, a Clinton revival takes shape now as Hillary Rodham Clinton, presumed front runner among Democrats, casts her eyes on the prize she has chased with every fiber of her being for so long–a chance to be elected the first female President of the United States.

If the Obama Administration is serious about making progress in defense of America’s best interests, the President and his national security team will forthwith request resources from Congress to rid Nigeria of the scourge called Boko Haram, while also swiftly implementing a robust plan to crush the Islamic State, what remains of Al Qaeda, and other adherents of radical Islamist jihad.

Informed foreign policy and economic experts rightly fear one gathering threat today even more than genocidal attacks by the purported Islamic State and its shadowy network of affiliates: the possibility that Russia, an ever expanding power, could one day provide military and diplomatic cover to Iran as that nation contrives to topple the monarchy in Saudi Arabia, and subsequently extends control by force over other energy-rich Arab kingdoms, including United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

After six years of a foreign policy strategy that observers have assessed as questionable at best, Americans and remaining foreign allies finally deserve an honest explanation of President Obama’s true aims across the Middle East. One person who should explain why the Obama Administration continually asserts the United States is making progress abroad despite so many appalling setbacks is senior aide Valerie Jarrett, whose influence shaping key policies is suggested in second-hand reports, but not yet adequately understood.

Confirmation hearings in progress for crucial cabinet posts such as Defense Secretary and Attorney General miss an important reality in the Obama administration–the official chain of command apparently operates, when it does operate, only for show.